Tammy Schuler takes a break from sorting through her belongings as the county removes homeless people from their encampments along the Santa Ana River in Orange on Feb. 8. The ACLU has sued the county to remove fencing around the encampments. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Tammy Schuler takes a break from sorting through her belongings as the county removes homeless people from their encampments along the Santa Ana River in Orange on Wednesday. Schuler says she will move to the other side of the river near the bicycle path.(Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The ACLU’s temporary restraining order request should not be considered until the Board of Supervisors discusses the matter in a closed session set for today, county attorneys said in court documents.

“A temporary restraining order … is extraordinary equitable relief that should not be granted unless plaintiff can establish … that he is likely to succeed on the merits,” the attorneys said.

The ACLU alleged in a federal lawsuit, which includes the restraining order request, there aren’t adequate open gates and that residents are trapped within the confines of the 6-foot chain-link fences. The fences are part of a project to stockpile boulders and materials for flood control. The ACLU says the fencing has “imprisoned” 75 to 100 people.

Days before, county officials posted notices that people living along the riverbed would have to clear the area for maintenance and that access in and out would be blocked. The fences surround the area between the Chapman and Orangewood bridges.

However, in court documents, Artemio Jaime, an infrastructure manager for the Public Works Department, disputed that homeless people have been trapped. “Once the (homeless) communities established themselves inside the … property, they continually cut holes in chain link fences and cut locks off gates,” he said. “In some instances, they even use their own locks to lock gates open, rather than shut.”

Scott Schwebke is a native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. and was previously a breaking news and multimedia reporter for the Ogden, Utah, Standard-Examiner. He has also worked at newspapers in Colorado, North Carolina and Virginia. A graduate of Brigham Young University, Scott is the Register's 2014 Beat Reporter of the Year. He has won more than two dozen journalism awards including the N.C. Associated Press News Council’s O. Henry Award for a lengthy narrative on the brutal home invasion slaying of a nurse and a Katie Award from the Dallas Press Club for a feature story on a UFO investigator. Scott has covered everything from methamphetamine trafficking cops to hurricanes and has accompanied police on undercover drug buys. He also provided an award winning, eyewitness account of the execution of a North Carolina death row inmate and obtained an exclusive interview with the ringleader of a brazen escape from the Orange CountyJail involving three maximum security inmates. Having spent two years living in England including Liverpool, he is an avid Beatles fan and memorabilia collector. He and his wife, Lisa, reside in Anaheim.

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